"For the analog sticks, we did test having the analog sticks on top, since the Xbox has the left side on top [above the D-pad]," Sony product planning department manager Toshimasa Aoki told VentureBeat.

"Especially from the shooter teams - we got feedback that that's what they wanted. They knew that consumers liked the 360 for shooters.

"When Nintendo came out with that, we were like, 'Wow, that's just like our prototype!' That surprised us. But yeah, we decided that it just wouldn't work," Aoki added.

"People are used to having the buttons up there, and this moves the most-used button - the X - so far away [from your right thumb]. If we moved the X up there, it just breaks all the muscle memory."

The firm ultimately scrapped the mock-up designs, in lieu of a more familiar layout for PlayStation fans.

"The right hand mostly goes for both buttons and sticks, but the left hand stays on one or the other and usually doesn't switch around [between the left analog stick and the D-pad]. That's why it's OK to switch around the left side. But switching the right side really breaks the gamer's experience."

The PS4 launches on November 15 in North America and on November 29 in Europe.